"The best and most influential Trek series"

[DS9forever]

A very interesting article from Hollywood.com:

http://www.hollywood.com/news/tv/55002516/get-thee-to-the-geek-star-trek-ds9-deep-space-nine?page=1

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Great article, though I slightly prefer TNG.

 

[garaks the best]

I agree with the article ds9 is the best trek by far IMO.

 

[SiddFinch1]

Good article
Liked ds9 a lot but hard to argue it was more influencing than Tos

 

[Harvey]

Most influential? That is the original, without argument. But I won't fight over calling DS9 the best series in the franchise. In any event, it is my favorite.

 

[BillJ]

Most influential? That is the original, without argument. But I won't fight over calling DS9 the best series in the franchise. In any event, it is my favorite.

Without a doubt.

The best series? That's going to vary by individual and is a meaningless title in the grand scheme of things.

 

[indolover]

DS9 was the shit, but I prefer in honesty TNG as it was the Trek I grew up on. DS9 still has a special appeal to me though.

 

[davejames]

TNG will always be a sentimental favorite, but objectively speaking I don't think there's any doubt that DS9 was the best-written show. By far.

 

[R. Star]

I'll agree with DS9 being the best. But c'mon most influential? Everyone knows who Captain Kirk and Spock are, even if they're not Trek or sci-fi fans. Most people will even know who Picard and Data are... but ask them about Sisko and Dax and you'll get blank stares.

 

[TheGodBen]

I love DS9 as much as a rational person can, but the article is over-egging it. TOS was the most influential Trek, and TNG was probably more influential than DS9 as well. DS9 did do some really cool serialised stories, but Babylon 5 was doing that sort of stuff at the same time and doing it better. And while the show had a bunch of amazing episodes and was usually very good, it also contains some of the worst material Star Trek ever produced. (This from a franchise where Spock once had his brain stolen by a race of bimbos in go-go boots.)

I suppose if that article convinces some new people to try DS9, and they like it, then it's all good. But if they go into the show expecting The Wire in space then they'll be disappointed. The article also spoiled some major events of the series, including the events of the best episode (in my opinion).

Basically, there are numerous angles from which I could grumble about this article, even though I agree with it in spirit. Which is my gods-given right as a Trekkie.

 

[LiLiKitty]

How nice to see my favorite show celebrated this way. I agree that TOS is the most influential series (there wouldn't be a DS9 without it!) but DS9 is the best.

 

[randomfan86]

Definitely not the most influential. However, it is the best and the most grounded in reality. Explored some concepts that portended the 2000's in the US. Terrorism, how far you should go to win a war, etc.

Had a wide range of characters they utilized. I also like the format of the show they used. A lot of time they had the story of 2 characters in one episode. They spent about 25 minutes on the main story from one character's perspective, and then spent about 17 minutes on the other character. It kept things interesting.

 

[flemm]

How nice to see my favorite show celebrated this way.

Yeah, really what articles like this, and other recent ones like it, mean is that DS9 has staying power, both on its own merits, and on the influence it has undeniably had on the genre as a whole. The extent of that influence can be debated, but it definitely had and continues to have an impact.

TOS will always be the most influential, its influence is just taken for granted at this point.

Anyway, as you say, as a longtime Niner, nice to see this type of article being written about the show

 

[RandyS]

DS9 was the shit, but I prefer in honesty TNG as it was the Trek I grew up on. DS9 still has a special appeal to me though.

You don't like DS9, but it has a special appeal to you?

How'd you arrive at that conclusion?

 

[BillJ]

DS9 was the shit, but I prefer in honesty TNG as it was the Trek I grew up on. DS9 still has a special appeal to me though.

You don't like DS9, but it has a special appeal to you?

How'd you arrive at that conclusion?

"The Shit" means that it was good in his opinion.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

TNG will always be a sentimental favorite, but objectively speaking I don't think there's any doubt that DS9 was the best-written show. By far.

I'll have to disagree with that. Consistency-wise, I think TNG S3-S6 was the best period for Trek writing. I can definitely see having DS9's writing as your personal preference, and it definitely aged better. But, DS9 did fall back on 'TV standard scenario' quite a bit, and although its main villains were compelling, its minor villains were your standard 'I'm going to be nasty for no reason' villains. You know 'Scott the Dick' from South Park? That was pretty much every villain in the series who was not Dukat, Winn, Weyoun, a Founder, or a Jem'Hadar first. (Either that or they were random psychopaths murdering people cause crazy and stuff)

And, again not counting seasons 1-2, TNG didn't have those 'flat out facepalm' episodes like Sword of Kahless where generally rational characters were acting like maniacs for no reason.

I can see not liking TNG's idealism and preferring DS9 more, but from a pure 'Making me interested in the drama without falling back on contrived personal drama' standpoint, I have to pick TNG's writing from seasons 3-6 over DS9.

 

[Sci]

Are we saying DSN was influential in terms of, permeating popular culture? Or in terms of the effect its storytelling techniques and themes influenced later TV shows?

A number of DSN writers have gone on to very successful later careers -- Ronald D. Moore with Carnivale and Battlestar, Ira Steven Behr on The 4400, Bryan Fuller on Pushing Daisies. So a case could be made that DSN was most influential in that sense.

 

[MacLeod]

I'd have to agree with what is being said, the most influential Trek show has to be TOS.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

"Most influential?"

Smells like agenda in favor of the Berman era. From a television position, to a filmed sci-fi position and the internal ST position, nothing matches TOS. To entertain DS9 as that on any level is a joke.

 

[Eric Cheung]

A case could be made for DS9 being highly influential on the shows that have aired since. It's not so much its fame but its format, which has dominated television in the past two decades. There has been a greater focus on TV since DS9 on character-based drama and serialization. I think DS9 has a lot to do with that. For that reason, numerous shows today can trace a direct line to DS9 much more easily than the other Trek shows. Even sitcoms have skewed toward doing things DS9 was doing 20 years ago.

I would say TNG is highly influential as a show that popularized first-run syndication, and TOS as a show that, along with The Twilight Zone popularized relatively grownup science fiction for television. TOS also helped popularize shows with diverse teams.

Though I'm warming up on ENT, I wouldn't say it's influential. Nor would I say VOY is.